Red Bud Historic District

Red Bud's historic district covers about 64 acres of the Randolph County city, largely along Main and Market streets and their intersection. It includes 195 structures, with a dense commercial core of two- and three-story buildings forming a nearly unbroken wall at the sidewalk, surrounded by low-density houses. The town grew from a store opened by R. D. Durfee in the 1840s and was platted in 1848. Its fastest growth came between 1848 and 1859, when many German immigrants arrived. By 1859 a county directory listed 54 commercial establishments. The oldest known building, the Durfee and Crozier Store of 1855, was the first brick store in town. Late Federal and Italianate buildings are the most common styles, with examples of Greek Revival, Second Empire and Gothic Revival. The district was recognized because so much of its 19th-century commercial and residential fabric survives, with little change since about 1890. The Federal Building and post office is named as the major intrusion.